1.17.2014

Science and Religion

When I was a kid in church, we were led to believe that science and religion were mutually exclusive.  I got the gist early on that faith and reason were as well. Scientists were just trying to contradict and disprove the Bible. People of faith didn't need to understand why things were the way they were, we left all that to God. Never question, just believe.
The Bible tells us in the book of Romans (and elsewhere) that God has chosen to reveal himself in what He has created. It tells us that no man has an excuse to not know God because God can clearly be seen in nature. Science is the study of God's creation. Scientists look, measure, test and then report what they find. Now, I know that some scientists have an agenda and because they don't want there to be a God, they try to use their findings to prove that He doesn't exist. But have you noticed how many times recent scientific discoveries jive perfectly with what was written in the Bible thousands of years ago?
There is only one truth - God's truth. When scientific data contradicts what the Bible clearly states, the scientist has misinterpreted the data. When the theologian's teaching from scripture contradicts legitimate scientific findings, the theologian has misinterpreted the scriptures. God has chosen to reveal Himself in scripture and in creation and the two revelations must agree! There is only one truth!
I can remember not too many years ago in the Holiness denomination, people believed that the moon shined it's own light. You would be excommunicated for agreeing with science that the moon only reflected the sun's light! Then again, there was a time when the best scientists in the world said the Earth was flat and all the other planets and the sun revolved around it. In both these examples, the facts were misinterpreted. Scientists can be wrong and Theologians can be wrong. Unbiased scientific findings and unbiased scriptural interpretation will always agree.